Reserved #3 - The Store(s)
Basic Store Layout
A given Walmart sector is blocked out similar to a city block, and can range in size to cover 1/2 square miles up to city-sized sectors that encompass all of a major city, such as New York or the Dallas-Ft. Worth-Austin Supercenter.
A typical Walmart sector has three to four "stacks".
The lowest stack, actually a sort of sub-basement can be one or more levels deep (commonly about 3). This area is a hub for stock-loaded transport equipment, warehouses, employee work/rest areas, factories and other maintenance areas (such as power stations, mainframe computer control, central heat/air, water supplies, sewage and the like). These areas are highly restricted to authorized personnel only and intruders are subject to attack by the automated security forces of these areas. Despite the dangers, the sub-basement areas are the best way to travel between Walmart sectors - grand tunnels with rail transport engines connect the various sectors through a variety of factory and stock hubs.
At ground level and above, the "first" stack is the economy stack - in some areas of great wealth (before the crash), this stack does not exist. A typical Economy stack is twelve stories tall from floor to ceiling. The ceiling area can be reached by retractable ladders (with the manual controls at floor level; these ladders are always attached to a pillar that reaches the ceiling). A near-invisible catwalk runs the length of the ceiling, and is often used by roofers to watch the world below and prepare raids on the "lower world". There are also access points in the ceiling catwalks that lead to a "midlevel" between the Economy and Value stacks - this area was used by security and employees transferring between levels, and often houses a lot of (empty) office space.
Most economy stack areas are in poor maintenance and living quarters are intermixed between rows; rarely do the the rows rise above two stories (with walkways at the 2nd level, of course). The housing that still exist in the economy stacks tend to be prefab buildings designed to house multiple families with a single family area. There is generally no space for botanical grow in the economy stack, and food & water is generally obtained from (rare, working) grocery shelves scattered throughout the area.
Goods here tend towards the "cheap" and gaudy and barter tends to be the common form of trade. Electronic devices in this area tend to be crude, if they can be found at all. More often than not, devices found here are manually operated (a can opener, for example, would be hand-operated).
The "sky" of the economy level is always a false ceiling with LED lighting to simulate a night and day cycle. Ads are rampantly on display in all areas with working power, and access to electrical power is difficult to obtain out of a tenement - and is often a place ripe for ambush if not already tightly under someone else's control.
Brand Gangs tend to be the most numerous in economy stacks, and tend to be the most violent. Many Brand Gangs frequent the grocery isles, demanding a cut of any food purchased in the area in return for "protection".
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Next up in the "stacks" is the value stack. Originally designed for median-wealth blue collar individuals, housing consists of themed tenements arranged along the outer walls of the sector. Like the Economy stacks, the Value stacks are, on average 12 stories from floor to ceiling. The Value stack contains grand hallways wide enough for service vehicles (and lined with possibly functioning moving walkways) that connect for transport between sectors. Most of these hallways have barricaded and are patrolled by security personnel that attempt to disuade travel between the "closed" sections.
Shelving in the Value stack averages four stories tall with associated walkways at each level, with escalators and elevators between levels (some of which actually work). Small areas in the Value stack were set aside for ornamental living vegetation, but since the time of the crash, these areas have been replanted as gardens by the inhabitants of these areas (and jealously guarded). Likewise, each Value area has at least one or more area set aside for entertainment - often a recreational park or similar area. Access to these areas are closely guarded, and they generally have become "neutral trading grounds" and/or areas that traveling aislers flock to seasonally.
Goods in the Value area are of average, durable quality. Electronics are common, but usually require a plugged in source of power. There are some areas of Wi-Fi access for functioning computers, but they tend to be near tenements.
Brand Gangs are common in the Value stack, but they are as often beneficial as they are violent. It is not uncommon for large swaths of a Value area to be ruled by a singular Brand Gang, with one or two lesser or "secret" Brand Gangs tolerated in the area.
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The last, and rarest of the "stacks" are the Luxury stacks. In the times before the great crash, they were pleasure palaces for the rich and wealthy. As the world sank deeper into debt and as the War Against High Prices raged on, many of these areas were abandoned or targeted for attack. Those few stacks that survived the Crash are like walking into a paradise - or a nightmare.
Like the other stacks, the typical Luxury stack has 12 stories. Rarely do the buildings in a Luxury stack rise above one or two stories, and the majority of the floor is carpeted with botanical paths or otherwise richly themed to suit the former dweller's tastes. It is not uncommon for a single structure to exist on an acre or more of ground. Golf courses, entertainment parks, recreations of famous cities during pre-Walmart years and such can be found in the various Luxury stacks. The roof of Luxury stacks is lined with specially tinted glass to grant a full view of the world outside, and can darken appropriately to filter out harsh sunlight.
Oddly, shelving is almost non-existance in the Luxury stacks, and often well-hidden. Any object can be ordered from a single functioning shelving unit, as long as one has the ability to pay. Most objects available in the Luxury stacks are electronic in nature, and they are powered by kinetic (movement of the body of the user) or solar power. All luxury stacks have full Wi-Fi access for computers and can provide power to Value electronics by means of microwave energy beaming (so that the device does not need to be plugged in). Of course, this all assumes that power is available to the stack at all.
Inhabitants to Luxury stacks are rare - few can afford to maintain a lifestyle in an existing stack without a major reprogramming of the stack; those who can afford to dwell here often frown on interlopers and treat them poorly. It should also be noted most of these stacks have been rendered unlivable - either via radiation from leaks in the glass to the outside world, or exposure to harsh elements and remnants of the outside world.
